Aug 31, 2014

Internet, the network of networks have connected billions of Computer devices worldwide using the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet protocol and have the Worlds largest information resources and services. There are many applications and resources on the Internet like World Wide Web, Hypertext, Telephony etc. Everyday more services are being added on the Internet which have made the World smaller, fast and paperless. Click a button and your order will be delivered to your home, you will be able to see your friends from any corner of the World and so on. Internet now has become a part of life for the people.

Internet Security (Image Credit: Amrita.edu)

Facebook, Google, Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Twitter, Windows Live, Bing, Blogger, WordPress and many more sites are the highly used sites over internet. Although they don't carry threat by themselves like other scam sites, the threat of keeping account secure is a big challenge. While it comes to being secure on internet, I would categorize threat to two different categories for common internet users.

Legit Websites Threats: Daily used, verified and trusted websites like Google, Facebook, Gmail, Blogger, Windows Live, Online Dating Sites and so on don't have threats on themselves but can be a medium enough to make you suffer from internet. Hackers can get access to your accounts. Internet stalkers can misuse your personal contents. So to avoid from such threats always make your account private. There are always privacy settings on these trusted Websites, make use of them. Don't trust on someone you met online or unknown people on internet. Always use strong passwords not something everyone can guess. There is no guarantee your account will be secure if you use strong passwords either but the chance of being hacked is very minimum. Facebook and Google accounts can be made more secure and unreachable by using Two-Step Verification method. If you haven't tried this, trust me this step of using Two-Step verification will prove a milestone move of securing your account. ( Two-Step verification is the method which asks for security code each time you try to access your account, which will be sent to you Mobile number. )

Scam Websites Threats: Scam Websites are those which look like real and act like one but aren't. They use various methods like Fraudulent (Spam) emails, Scam Sites, Phishing Sites , Lottery Sites and Emails, Virus/Adware/Malware via Emails and downloads and counting.

Overcome Scam Websites Threats: You can easily overcome these types of threats if you are seriously concerned about your internet security. You can follow these steps to stay safe:

Spam Emails are nowadays automatically directed to spam folder of Email account. Don't open those emails or just delete them without opening. If you have custom emails like "yourname@yourwebsite.com", there may or mayn't be spam detector, so you have to do some hard work on that. Find about those types of emails from Google, Forums or Yahoo answers. After you feel its secure then open them.

Scam Sites can be easily detected by doing a little internet work. If you are going through certain sites, first find out some details about those sites. There are many websites on internet which detect scam websites like Scamadviser.com

Phishing sites look like real websites because they design to look like same. They even have web address similar to the real websites, for example faebook.com for hacking Facebook accounts. Hackers can develop such types of Websites to get access to your Facebook. So to overcome from this threat always use the official web address and apps and check the web address before logging in.

Never trust lottery emails and websites, they are always threat to you. They will send emails and display message that you have won huge amount of money. Nobody gives you money for free, so never trust them and click them further to continue. If you do so being selfish then that will be the biggest mistake you will be doing.

To stay safe from Virus/Adware/Malware use internet security Anti-Virus software like Kaspersky, BitDefender and so on. These threats come from emails and software. While downloading any software of your need always use the trusted sites like Download.com, never download any software from emails unless it is trusted. While installing software, you may be asked if you would like to download other software too but if its recommended you have to download them. No, you shouldn't download them unless recommended. Nowadays some software use recommended options too but you will have another option to ignore them. If you come through these types of software better use ignore option.

Above mentioned threats are only for common internet users. There are more advanced threats on internet which includes Websites Owners and Companies, Credit Card Holders and Users on Internet, Online Workers and so on. On coming days I will get with you all with advance methods of being secure on Internet.